The Association for Behavior Analysis International® (ABAI) is a nonprofit membership organization with the mission to contribute to the well-being of society by developing, enhancing, and supporting the growth and vitality of the science of behavior analysis through research, education, and practice.

Dr. Shawn Gilroy received his Ph.D. from Temple University, in School Psychology and Behavior Analysis. While training at both the Munroe-Meyer and the Kennedy Krieger Institutes, his research focused on the incorporation and development of technology to enhance clinical measurements and analyses. He is presently on a Marie Sklodowska-Curie research fellowship in Ireland at the National University of Ireland at Galway and his focus is on developing free and open-source communication tools for children with autism and intellectual disabilities and their caregivers. The goal of his current project is to establish low-cost, evidence-based hardware and software that can be used by schools and families in conjunction with evidence-based treatments for individuals with communication disorders (i.e., tablet and specialized software for under $50 total). Beyond hardware and software development, his interests also include the use of technology to enhance analyses of decision-making, adapt behavior economic analyses to clinical applications, and model intertemporal choice.

Abstract: This tutorial provides a primer on open-source software designed for behavior analysts and behavioral scientists. The review includes an overview of existing works and highlights software designed to extend the range and precision of behavior analytic work. This tutorial also discusses the emerging role of open-source software and software repositories as necessary adjuncts to peer-reviewed works and evidence-based tools. For researchers, open-source repositories provide an additional means for increasing the transparency, replicability, and extendibility of existing approaches. For practitioners specifically, several open-source tools provide applied behavior analysts with additional clinical information that was previously unavailable without substantial time, complicated data collection, and statistical training. Topics covered will include delay discounting, applied behavioral economics, and severe behavior and the tutorial provides examples of how such software can be applied in both clinical work and research. The specific operations performed by these tools include non-linear curve fitting, model selection, inter-rater reliability, and time-based lag sequential analyses.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the presentation, participants will be able to: (1) apply statistical operations to clinical and research data; (2) identify and acquire software tools for use in research and practice; (3) incorporate behavior analytic software into their research and practice.